Weaving or braiding shuttle support



J. FENTR ESS.

WEA VING 0R BRAIDING SHUTTLE SUPPOYRT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT! 30, I918.

1 ,363,858. I Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

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' J. FENTRESSQ WEAVING 0R BRAIDING SHUTTLE SUPPORT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30. 1918'.

1,363,858. Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

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PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES FENTRESS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

WEAVING OR BRAIDING SHUTTLE SUPPORT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

Application filed September 30, 1918. Serial No. 256,225.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES FENTRESS, a citizen of the United States, residin at Chicago, in the county of Cook and tate of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Weaving or Braiding Shuttle Supports, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for Weaving, more particularly for braiding fabric on any sort of an object, such for instance as electric wires.

The object of the invention is to provide a mounting for the shuttle carrying one thread, said mounting being so constructed that another thread which is to pass the shuttle, either through the simultaneous movement of both threads or the movement of one thread while the other is stationary, may so pass the first thread without substantial friction which might injure the thread or retard the operation of the machine, or make an undue noise. A further object of the invention is to provide a switching mechanism by which a plurality of threads successively passing or passed by the shuttle maybe caused to alternately travel on opposite sides of the shuttle, thus creating the successive over and underlapping of threads across the thread carried by the shuttle, as is always required in weaying or braiding.

The invention consists in means for carrying out the foregoing objects, which can be easily and cheaply made, which is satisfactory in operation, and is not readily liable to get out of order. More in detail, the invention consists in supporting the shuttle on a multiplicity of relatively small, light, individual supports which singly do not seriously impede a passing thread, but which, in unison, have suflicient strength to properly sustain the shuttle. The invention further consists in switching mechanism for directing successive threads past the shuttle on opposite sides. More particularly, the invention consists in other features and details of construction'set'forth' hereafter in the specification and claims.

and other related operations, but- I cent passage 38, heretofore referredto. -a practical proposition, the springs 4248 to which the device of this invention in its Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the shuttle proper, removed from other supporting parts of the device.

The braiding machine to which the device of this invention is shown applied consists essentially of a rotatable table 10, carrying a plurality of thread spools l2, revoluble in one direction, and an annular ring table 14 supported on arms 16 and 18, revoluble in the opposite direction through the agency of suitable gearing 20 and 22 driven by a suitable source of power 24 in the usual manner, forming no part of this invention. The resulting braid .or braiding 26 produced by the machine is located at the top and is constructed from a plurality of threads 28 carried by spools 12 moving in one direction and a plurality of other threads 30 delivered from bobbins 32 carried in shuttles 34, suitably mounted in accordance with this invention in suitably formed recesses 36 formed in the ring 14 moving in the opposite direction. The recesses 36 in which successive shuttles are located are connected together by track-ways or passages 38, through which the threads 30 pass from one recess 36 to the next adjacent recess 36. The number of threads 28 and 30 used in a given braiding operation is wholly immaterial.

In the particular embodiment of the invention, here illustrated,.the shuttles 34 are constructed as shown in detail in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, with longitudinal recesses or slots 40 extending along their sides which are entered and engaged by the ends of supporting springs, in the particular case here shown wires 42, rigidly attached on the side walls of recesses 36 in ring 14 in some suitable manner. As shown in Fig. 2, the are secured through the agency of suitab e adjusting screws 44, and the bobbin 34 has rigidly attached to its rear end two other similar springs 48 which bear lightly at their ends 50 against the side walls of the recesses 36 in proximity to the entrance of the adipwork best when placed as shown at about 4'5 degrees to the shuttle. The reason why these last mentioned springs 48 are secured as described is to prevent movement of the shuttle to the left, as viewed in Fig. 2,

hereafter described, notwithstanding the rotary movement of ring 14 with the shuttle therein. The springs may be made of any length and diameter, depending on the design of thedetails of the device by which they are supported from the car rier 14.

The forward end of the shuttle 34 is pointed, as shown, and has pivoted to it a switch member 52 selectively locked in position by any suitable means, such for instance as the pointed plunger 54, controlled by a spring 56. When this switch is in the posltion shown in Fig. 2, a thread 28 passing from the right of Fig. 2 strikes the switch and is first guided by it toward the lower side of the shuttle, as viewed in Fig. 2, whereupon, as thread 28 moves on, it throws the switch against the action of spring 56 in a clockwise direction until the forward point 60 of the switch is in such a position that it is ready to guide the nextv thread which comes from the right of Fig. 2 along the upper side of the shuttle, as viewed in that figure, thereupon reversing the switch and returning it to' the position of Fig. 2.

Assume now that a thread is passing from the forward or switch end of the shuttle and moving to the left, as viewed in Fig. 2, it encounters one after another the successive supporting spring wires. 42, and moves each particular spring wire in succession out of notch 40 in the shuttle sufliciently to let the thread pass, and finally similarly moves end 50 of adjacentwire 48 to let it pass there. In the articular case here illustrated, each shuttle is supported by ten wires42 and positioned by two wires 48, so that the momentary nonfunctioning of one such wire as the thread passes does not interfere or perceptibly affect the sustaining of the shuttle in operative position. The result of this construction is that threads are passed freely past the shuttle without in any way injurin the thread or disturbing the support 0 the shuttle and its contained bob bin. So little power is required to remove a singlesu porting spring or wire 42 from contact wit the. shuttle long enough topermit a thread to pass between that wire and the shuttle that the machine is practically frictionless in so far as this part of the machine is concerned, and is also practically noiseless, due to the fact that each spring 42 moves through such a short distance to permit the passing of the thread that no appreciable sound is made as a given wire returns to place'after the thread has passed.

As has heretofore been intimated, this shuttle mounting may be used in any sort of a machine in which one thread is required to pass another, irrespective of the name of the machine, the kind of material worked. upon, and the resulting product, without departing from this invention.

While the foregoing description only refers to the passage of a single thread at a time past the shuttle, the device will work just as well if more than one thread is passing on one side and if one or more are simultaneously passing on the other side of the shuttle.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination, a shuttle carrier, a shuttle and a plurality of spaced independent supports sustaining the shuttle, the engagement between each support and one of said first two mentioned members being one of contact only, whereby a thread may be passed between one support at a time and the adjacent member.

2. A carrier member, a shuttle to be carried, spring members between the two, supporting one from the other, the engagement of each spring member with one of the first two mentioned members being such that a thread may be passed between the two, as described for the purposes set forth.

3. In mechanism of the class described, a carriermember having a recess therein, a

shuttle. member positioned in said recess and clearing the sides thereof, a plurality of fiexible supporting members sustaining the shuttle from-the walls of the recess of the carrier member, the engagement of one end of each flexible member with the adjacent member first mentioned being such that a thread may be freely passed between the two, for the purposes set forth.

4. In mechanism of the class described, a carrier member, a shuttle member mounted 1n a recess in the carrier member and free from contact with the carrier member, a plurallty of flexible springs extending from the carrier member and entering a recess in the body of the shuttle member, said spring members being adapted for movement out of said recess by the passage of the thread between the carr'ier member and shuttle memher, for the purposes set forth.

5. In mechanism of the class described, a carrier member provided with a recess within which a shuttle maybe mounted, there being passages leading to and from the recess at opposite ends, a shuttle member supported in'the recess in the carrier member to permit passage of thread on either side of the shuttlemember, and a switch mechanism adjacent to the forward end of the shuttle member adapted to alternately switch successive passing threads entering the recess in the carrier member to alternate sides of the shuttle member, for the purposes set forth.

6. In mechanism of the class described, a carrier member having a recess therein for a shuttle member, there being passages leading to and from said recess, a shuttle member in said recess and clear of the walls thereof, a switch at the forward end of the shuttle member adapted to successively switch thread moving from the adjacent passage into the recess first to one side and then to the other of the shuttle member, and a plurality of flexible supports along the sides of the recess of the carrier member, each detachably engaging the shuttle member in such a manner that the thread passing through the recess adjacent to the shuttle may momentarily detach an end of a support from the member which it supports, thereby permitting the thread to pass, for the purposes set forth.

7. In a device of the class described, a carrier member made up of two ring shaped parts, lying in the same horizontal plane, the facing edges of which are spaced so as to provide recesses and channel Ways, a shuttle mounted in one of said recesses clear of the walls thereof, a plurality of horizontal supporting spring members interposed between the shuttle and the adjacent wall of the recess in the carrier member, each such spring member being rigidly attached at one of its ends to the adjacent member, and frictionally contacting the other member, whereby a thread passing the shuttle member may successively slip past each adjacent supporting spring, for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES FENTRESS. Witnesses:

DWIGHT B. CHEEVER, M. S. RosENzwEIG. 

